


Shattered.

by MyraTheFox



Category: Onmyou Taisenki
Genre: Angst, Attempted Murder, Hurt/Comfort, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-05-28 13:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6331774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyraTheFox/pseuds/MyraTheFox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Time passes as Riku continues on with his life, never once noticing Kogenta watching over him from afar. But when Riku's life takes a turn for the worse, not even the threat of ending up in Naraku will stop Kogenta from protecting his Toujinshi and making sure the ones responsible get what they deserve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

At first Kogenta was surprised that Riku came back to visit the shrine where he had left his Drive. The fight was over and Riku had ended their contract with him. He had honestly thought that his once Toujinshi would move on and continue on with his normal life, not giving a second thought about the device that was once used to summon him, but never forgetting the adventures they went on together. Never once noticing him watching over the brunette from afar.

So Kogenta was honestly surprised when, a week after their contract had ended, Riku had come and visited his now slumbering Drive straight after school. He watched with interest from a distance as Riku entered the shrine and picked the Drive up from it's pedestal and smiled fondly. He waited with baited breath, was Riku going to summon him again? He released a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding when Riku put the Drive back down on the pedestal and walked back out of the shrine to return home, the Byakko following from a distance.

From that point on Riku's visits became quite regular. At first he just stood there smiling, remembering what Kogenta presumed to be their adventures together but then, little by little, he began to talk about his day and how his life was going as if he was still inside the Drive; not that he wasn't near by to hear or get the basic of how his once Toujinshi's life was going by following him but a bit of detail was greatly appreciated.

Eventually Kogenta stopped following Riku around, reasoning with himself that Riku could look after himself and that there was no need to, beside he had the boy's visits to look forwards to. It was great at first, to hear what happened to Riku each day as said boy explained what happened with surprisingly great detail and a huge smile on his face, how the rowing club gained more members and how they were moving forwards onto more major competitions, how Ryuuji and Rina were doing, how he still met up with Yumma and Soma, even Teru and Nazna at times. He even started dating Momo eventually. Yes, Kogenta could safely say that Riku's life was going greatly for the boy.

That was until a month later, three months after the first visit, when he noticed that Riku didn't seemed as cheery as he had been in the past. But whatever was bothering the boy, he did well at hiding it. But as time went on, little by little, the mask Riku put on crumbled away despite how hard Riku tried to put on a brave face and act as if nothing was wrong. He eventually ended up saying that Momo had broken up with him three months into their relationship, saying she said it wasn't quite working. Which then led to a sort of chain reaction, Ryuuji and Rina started hanging out with Momo more often gradually drifting away from brunette originator. And it seemed, from what Riku said, that the rowing club was doing better without him.

So Kogenta decided to follow Riku again one day, to see to what extent everything had gone, how badly things had gotten. And it was worse than Riku had let on. ALL the students and staff were openly avoiding him, their lively chatter going to hushed whispers as soon as he walked through the school gates. Some students glared and/or sneered at him as he past while the staff acted as if he wasn't there, all the while Riku continued on his way with his shoulders slumped and head bowed, never making eye contact with anyone. Kogenta soon spotted Ryuuji, Momo and Rina hanging out with a couple boys who the Byakko presumed to be the new members of the rowing club. They looked to be a year or two older than Riku and, to anyone else, ordinary junior high school students. But for some reason they gave the Byakko Shikigami a bad feeling.

The day just got worse from there. The teachers avoided giving him the paper work that was meant to be complete and they even had the audacity to ask him to read from said paper work and/ or to answer a question from it too, only to chew his ear off when he remained quiet. The only paper work Riku got handed were test sheets and homework. And when it came to handing them back their marked work, they barely returned any of Riku's, only handing him the one's he had failed and telling him to study more. This really got on Kogenta's nerve.

But Riku's torment didn't end there. During the breaks the students pushed and shoved past him, some even throwing their trash at him, and those who were courageous enough to approach only did so to make him their personal punching bag when he was alone and just before the bell went to signal the end of the break. But even then he was not saved by the bell, his tormentors continuing for a good five possibly ten minuets before deciding to go to class and blaming their lateness on the brunette, all the while Riku took every hit without saying a word or fighting back. And when he walked into his class, limping, battered, bruised and bloodied, the teacher STILL scolded him for making his classmates late, ignoring the obvious condition Riku was in.

During the next class when the teacher asked Riku where his 'missing' paper work was and Riku remained silent, Kogenta knew the brunette had handed them in and that the teacher had done something with them. So he went in search for them, knowing nothing overly bad would happen to Riku during class, soon finding the paper work in the trash in the teachers office completed and marked with a score that obviously meant he past. It made the Byakko bristle in anger at how unfair and poorly everyone was treating Riku.

During the next and final break of the day Riku still had to suffer another two beating and his lunch being stolen before being blamed for his classmates lateness again. But somehow, by the end of the day Riku was no longer limping, bruises discretely hidden and blood cleaned off. If Kogenta hadn't been there to witness it first hand, he would have been none the wiser when Riku still came to visit the drive and chat to supposedly nothing but air.

It made the Shikigami of trust sick to know how the boy was being treated, how Riku was just taking it and then shrugging it off as if it was nothing, how easily the boy had fooled him into thinking that everything was ok. It had him ROARING in anger and frustration once the boy had left, this being the shortest of the gradually shortening visits, anger at the people doing this Riku and frustration at himself for not being able to do anything for the Heaven Style Originator.

But Kogenta was thankful to know that Riku's grandfather still treated the boy as the grandson he always had.

It wasn't like he didn't want to be there for Riku but there wasn't anything Kogenta could to help him and couldn't stand seeing Riku go through all that torment. So he stayed behind once again and waited with baited breath for the brunette to visit, easily spotting the hidden bruises when he did.

The visits got quieter to the point where Riku no longer talked and soon got shorter to the point where they became irregular; Riku not visiting for days. But then a week past and Riku hadn't visited at all, which didn't really surprise the Byakko with the visits becoming irregular but it did disappoint him. A second week past and the brunette still didn't visit, making Kogenta begin to worry. Then one night, halfway through the third week, Kogenta suddenly got a very bad feeling in his gut. So he dashed off to check on Riku at his home, ignoring the beautiful night scenery.

Once at the house Kogenta peaked in through Riku's bedroom window, finding said boy fast asleep on his futon. The Shikigami of trust sighed in relief and was about to leave when dread suddenly washed over him. Cautiously he floated through the wall and into the boys room. As he got closer to Riku he figured out why all his instincts were screaming at him that something was very wrong. He rushed over to the boy and tried to shake him awake but his hand just went straight through Riku's shoulder.

"Riku! Oi, Riku! C'mon wake up, Riku!" Kogenta called desperately.

They boy's life force, once so bright and vibrant and strong and so god damn hard to miss, is dull and weak and fading! He looks around the room frantically with wide, scared eyes, trying desperately to find the course, soon spotting a small medicine bottle lying on the floor with half it's contents gone and the other half scattered slightly. Kogenta doesn't know to much about human medicine but he does know that taking to much of some medicines in one go can be fatal.

With horror filling him, Kogenta renewed his tries at shaking the boy awake, calling out for him to wake up, never once noticing his transparent ghostly form becoming solid and being able to actually touch and shake Riku.

"RRRIIIKKKUUU!" Kogenta practically screamed when the brunette's life force became too dangerously dull and weak for his liking, tears he had held back till now were flowing freely.


	2. Chapter 2

Kogenta practically jumped when the door to Riku's room was slammed open, light flooding the room and blinding him for a moment, only to see Riku's grandfather standing in the doorway looking equal amounts surprised and worried when the Shikigami's eyes finally adjusted to the sudden onslaught of illumination. Kogenta didn't care what surprised the old man more, the fact that there was a Shikigami in his grandson's room or that said Shikigami was balling his eyes out like a new born kitten, scared as heck.

“Please!” Kogenta was begging and he didn't care, all that mattered was Riku. “It's Riku, he's.....”

At the mention of his grandson, the old man looked to Riku, quickly spotting the half empty medicine bottle and putting the pieces together, dashing out of the room and calling an ambulance. He stayed in the shadows of the room when the paramedics arrived and took Riku to the hospital and stayed there still as they left, Riku's grandfather going with them. It didn't take long for him slump down to the floor in the dark and quiet room, bringing his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs and burying his head in his knees as he leaned against the wall with his tail wrapped around his feet, sobbing till he could no more. And even then he did not uncurl from that position, not even when he heard someone enter the building hours later or even when they flicked on the light in the room he was in, only peaked out over his knees to see that it was Riku's grandfather approaching. He kept his eyes on the old man as he made his way over and sat in front of him with his legs under him as if he was sitting down to a meal.

“Shikigami?” the old man asked in concern.

“Kogenta.” he mumbled loud enough for the man to hear, forgoing the proud and cheery announcement of 'Byakko No Kogenta', not really in the mood for it.

The old man nodded in acknowledgement. “Riku will be fine, Kogenta.”

At this Kogenta lifted his head up out of his knees and looked the old man in the eye. “He will?” Kogenta asked with a shaky voice.

Riku's grandfather, Sotaro, smiled and nodded, earning a sigh of relief from the Shikigami. “Though had we been a little later....” Sotaro trailed off not wanting to finish that train of though. “But Riku will have to stay in hospital for a little while.”

Kogenta nodded, understanding the implications of that last statement, then buried his head in his knees again. “Why did I let him end our contract?” he mumbled to himself. “Things might have been better. Maybe things wouldn't have gotten quite to this extent.”

“Better? Extent?”

“You mean you don't know?” Kogenta asked, lifting his head out of his knees again.

At the questioning look, Kogenta sighed and started to explain how he followed Riku, watching over him from afar until he deemed the boy capable of looking after himself. Of how Riku visited the Drive he had left slumbering in the shrine and chatted away as if he _knew_ Kogenta was listening. And of how his talks went from happy everyday nonsense to things a little more worrisome. He explained that he had followed Riku to school again one day a short while back and what he had discovered was a hole lot worse than what Riku was letting on, it was sickening!

Kogenta told him how _EVERYONE_ of the school body avoided the boy as if he had contracted a deadly disease, staff and students alike. He told the old man how the teachers didn't give him what paper work was required for the class and then have the audacity to ask him to answer a question or read from it. How the teachers scolded him when his classmates blamed him for their lateness. Even how those students with enough courage to approach the boy only did so to pick on him.

“They beat him _three times_ that day old man!” Kogenta exclaimed before slumping back against the wall and looking to the ceiling, saying solemnly, “While I could do nothing but stand back and watch.”

Sotaro was disgusted, appalled, mortified with how the school had been treating his grandson. Kogenta didn't have to say his full title for him to know that he was a Shikigami of trust, so he knew the information he was getting was nothing but the truth. The old man's face became neutral, his mind made up.

“I'm pulling out.”

“What?” asked Kogenta quite surprised.

“The safety of my grandson comes first. So first thing tomorrow morning, I'm pulling Riku out of that school until further notice. Once he has recovered enough, I'll get him a private tutor.” the old man explained, the protectiveness he held for Riku coming through.

Kogenta nodded in understanding. “I don't know how this started but I'm going to find out in the mean time.” he said with determination.

Sotaro smiled gratefully. “Thank you, Kogenta. I'll let you know when Riku is released from hospital so you can be here when he returns, I just know your presence will help him greatly.” he became serious. “News of what has happened tonight will spread quickly so maybe if you head back to the school tomorrow you might find something out.”

Kogenta nodded. “Thanks for the advice but I was going to go back there anyway. I have a couple _suspects_ in mind already.”

Riku's grandfather seemed surprised for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. “I'm going to bed, it looks like we both could use some rest so I'll leave you be.”

“Um, if you don't mind, could I rest in another room? I don't think I would get very much in Riku's room.” Kogenta asked nervously.

“Of course, I understand.” Sotaro replied with a kind smile.

The two left Riku's room before separating and heading off in different directions, heading to two different rooms. Sleep did not come easy for either of them that night.


End file.
